retimes (version 0.1-0)

skew: Skewness Index

Description

Calculate the skewness index of an empirical distribution.

Usage

skew(x)

Arguments

x

Vector of data.

Value

• The skewness index.

Details

The skewness measures the asymmetry of a probability distribution. If a positive skewness identifies a greater right tail, a negative skewness is symptom of a greater left tail of the distribution. The skewness is calculated as: $k_{3} / k_{2}^{1.5}$, where $k_{2}$ and $k_{3}$ are respectively the second and the third moment of the distribution.

Examples

# Vector of reaction times from Heathcote (1996):
RT <- c(474.688, 506.445, 524.081, 530.672, 530.869,
        566.984, 582.311, 582.940, 603.574, 792.358)
skew(RT)